Walk The Earth: Doctor Who/Studio C [Book 2]

Old Friends and New Enemies

Old Friends and New Enemies

"For the first nineteen years of my life, nothing happened. Nothing at all. Not ever. And then I met a man called the Doctor. A man who could change his face. And he took me away from home in his magical machine. He showed me the whole of time and space. I thought it would never end. That's what I thought..." -Rose Tyler

About half an hour had passed before the door to the TARDIS swung open with a distinctive creak.

The Doctor entered silently, tossing his brown coat over one of the coral struts that wound around the room. A few moments later he was taking the ship into the Vortex.

"All set?" Mallory asked tentatively.

He looked up sharply, as if noticing they were there for the first time. "Yup," he said, his tone dull, like he couldn't quite manage keeping it bright.

Silence started to settle over them, but Matt broke it. "How do you even fix something like that?"

"Well, when the Time Lords were still around..." the Doctor started, then broke off. "Well, these days it's just me rattling around, not such a big deal. My younger self suppressed the memories of his side of the incident, until I've come round and done it from both perspectives. I won't remember it until a few minutes ago."

Mallory stared at him for a moment, trying to puzzle through the mixed tenses. "What about Rose? She knows about her future now."

"No," the Doctor said flatly. "I took her memories of the incident as well."

"But she's not here to come through it a second time," Mallory said. He avoided her gaze, flicking switches on the console."Doctor."

"No, she's not," he finally snapped back. "I'm well aware of that, thank you."

"So she won't ever remember, is that it?" His stiff posture told her all she needed to know. "And that's just okay? To take people's memories like that?"

"She consented," the Time Lord shot back to her.

"I don't care! Who are you without memories? Who are you without your experiences that shaped you?"

Finally, he whirled on her. "Would you rather the paradox grew and spread and poisoned the entire universe? Because that's what would have happened. When the Time Lords were still around they had ways of fixing it but they're not, because I killed them all, I'm the last one left, and I did what I had to!"

She fell silent, fighting the urge to wither away under the glare of the Oncoming Storm. After a moment, she spun on her heel and walked away.

~~~

Matt had never appreciated being in the middle of arguing friends. He had a feeling the circumstances around this one would make it particularly unpleasant.

He was happily surprised to find out he was wrong. By the next morning, either the Doctor was avoiding the subject entirely and Mallory was letting him, or they had agreed to disagree. Matt had a feeling it was likely the former.

A few days passed in the typical fashion. It was an offhand comment that gave him the idea, and after sleeping on it for the night he found himself plowing ahead with it, despite his slight apprehension.

The two both wore wedding rings. It was a fact they were both aware of but rarely drew attention to. They had, after all, technically been married. Not long ago, though, Mallory had mentioned that she only wore the band because the engagement ring, having to blend in for their act in 1913, was far from suiting her tastes.